If youre serious about success, then you need to improve your recovery

If youre serious about success, then you need to improve your recoveryIf youre serious about success, then you need to improve your recoveryWhen you study the lives of people who are the best in the world at what they do, youll elendice one consistent themeRecovery.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreIn aninterview, Mike Mancias,wertmiger zuwachs coach for basketball icon LeBron James, told Tim Ferriss, Recovery never stops. Thats the key to LeBrons success. Its the key to Olympian Michael Phelps success as well.What do I mean by recovery?Recovery is organizing the rest of your life to ensure you perform at your highest level. In other words, what Michael Phelps did while he wasnt swimming was the reason he was so good at swimming. What LeBron James does while he isnt playing basketball is why hes so good at basketball.Focusing on recovery is hard for two reasonsWe can be impulsive, thinking more work is better, so we just become workaholics.Our recovery isnt actually recovery, but a low-level distraction from what really matters in our livesMore Is Not BetterLets departure with the first reason. Working more to get ahead eventually leads to a diminishing of returns. Its like trying to cut a tree down with an increasingly dull saw.Recovery is sharpening your saw so that youre effective while working.But recovery is also about gaining clarity so that youre cutting down the right tree.Heres how Abraham Lincoln felt about recoveryGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. - Abraham LincolnSee what I mean?Abraham Lincoln believed that two-thirds of his attention should be spent on his recovery. My guess, if you really looked closer, is that 80% or more of Lincolns attention was on recovery.Its bedrngnis about chopping down more trees. Its about cutting down the right trees.For example, I see people writing and publis hing blog posts every day. But none of behauptung people are ever going to become professional writers in the strict sense. They will always be mediocre novices. Their work isnt getting any better. They arent thinking any bigger about what theyre doing. Theyre thinking incredibly small.Thus a big, big part of recovery is the thinking and imaginative process.What is it you actually want to do?Is what youre currently doing the best approach?Should you be so focused on output or should you direct your attention more toward results?What type of results would constitute success for you?How could you get 10X the results with 10X less effort?What are the 10% or 20% of activities youre currently doing that are producing 80% or more of your results?How can you delete almost everything youre doing and focus on what really matters?How can you produce less but impact more?Focus, Not RepetitionYou see people go to the gym several times per week for years and never truly become healthier or stron ger.In the bookTurning Pro, Steven Pressfield said,Addictions embody repetition without progress.Repetition without progress is what happens when youre working with a dull blade. Its what happens when you are a dull blade.You need clear goals that are outcome-focused. When you become very clear about the specific results you want in your life, then you focus on recovery. You focus on figuring out what really works.You stop just doing more, more, more in an impulsive and wishful manner.You actually sit down and think aboutWhat do you really want?Why do you want it?Why are you currently getting the results youre getting?Whats working?Whats not working?How can you improve what is working?How can you eliminate whats not?True RecoveryWherever you are, thats where you should be. - Dan Sullivan, founder of Strategic CoachTrue recovery is about rejuvenation. Its about being present with where you are.Most people are rarely present these days. When theyre at work, theyre distracted. They fi ght off their self-prescribed ADHD with stimulants to keep them going. When they arent working, theyre on their phone impulsively. Theyre checking emails, notifications, and being anywhere but where their body is.Fasting is a form of recovering your body from food intake. While fasting, your body can actually heal itself because, for a brief window of time, its not focused on digestion. Fasting from technology regularly is essential for clarity.Bill Gates is famous for taking one week off per year solely for the purpose of thinking. He calls this his think week. During this think week, he justs read articles, meditates, visualizes, and thinks about Microsoft. Most of the big innovations and ideas for Microsoft came during those think weeks.Bill Gates gave himself time off. He gave himself time to reflect and renew. It was during those few moments of connection with himself and his thinking that he created something that not only changed the world but made him - for a time - the we althiest person in the world.Recovery is about results.Its about looking at your life and thinking aboutWhat is low-level?What is below the standards of my goals?What is below the standards of the results Im seeking?How can you expect to truly be amazing at what you do if the rest of your life is a mess? How can you expect to be professional if most of your time is spent living like a novice? How you train and practice reflects what happens in the game.Dan Sullivan, the founder of Strategic Coach - which is the 1 entrepreneurial coaching program in the world - has found that for an entrepreneur to 10X their revenue, they must massively decrease their time spent working.Ideally, you spend 35%-40% of your days totally off from work. That would be between 127 and 146 days per year not working.For Dan, its not a free day if you check your email. Its not a free day if youre thinking about work. Its not a free day if youre not totally present recovering.Heres what youll find The people who are most successful do the most memorable and enjoyable things while not working. People who are average at what they do spend their time on average things while not working. Theyre watching the news or consuming low-level media.Those who are successful spend their time off with family, or traveling, or learning, or having powerful experiences, or engaging in real hobbies.The quality of your recovery reflects the quality of your life.ConclusionLook at your results over the past six to 12 months.Are you actually getting better at what youre doing?If youve been going to the gym, can you actually see the results? Is your body different?When it comes to your business, are you actually making more moneyWhen it comes to your lifestyle, are you actually seeing gains?If youre not improving as much as you could be, then youre not recovering enough or well enough.Youre not focused on quality. Youre not focused on results. But when you really get serious about results, then youll do everyt hing you can to improve your performance.And improving your performance is all about the setup and design.Its about what youre doing while youre not at work. Its about what youre doing while youre not at the gym. Its about taking the long-term view of where youre going. Its about thinking big enough to become elite at what you do, rather than maintaining the amateur perspective.Theres a reason most people remain mediocre amateurs at what they do. Theres a reason that 3% of any given field make over 90% of the money. Theres a reason 3% of the blog posts are read by 90% of the people.Are you actually getting better? How big are your goals? How can you 10X what youre doing? How can you spend your time most effectively? Those are questions you must ask if you want to see huge results. Those are questions you must answer if youre going to get paid big for what you do.Stop being an amateur. Become a professional.Become the best in the world at what you do. Become so good your work cant be ignored.Do stuff thats rare, unique, and valuable - not that which is easily replicable.Have the vision to think big enough.This article first appeared on Medium.

How to convince your boss to let you see the eclipse

How to convince your boss to let you binnensee the eclipseHow to convince your boss to let you see the eclipseOn Monday, a rare natural phenomenon is coming to the United States. As the moon, Earth, and sun align, the moon will completely block out the sun, casting a shadow on partes of the Earth and causing a total solar eclipse that will be seen from Oregon to South Carolina.Everyone in the U.S. will at least see a partial solar eclipse, but to fully experience it, youll have to be in the 70-mile-wide path of totality that 14 states will be in. You can figure out how much of the eclipse youll see by checking out this interactive map.Although the total solar eclipse will last only a few minutes at maximum, some employers may not see the big deal. So the sky is darkening? OK, get back to work.If your skeptical co-workers say so what? you can tell them so this. Eclipses are a rare moment of cosmic serendipity that can raise good will amongst employees and create memories that will las t beyond this event.Here are a few ways you can convince your boss and your company you need to take a few minutes offto see this eclipseIts awe-inspiringIf youre on the fence about taking a break to watch the moon block the sun, let an astronomer whomLadders talked with convince you. Dr. Jay Pasachoff, an astronomer at Williams College who has seen 33 total solar eclipses, calls seeing a total solar eclipse an unforgettable experience.To be in totality is complete inspiring in that these dramatic phenomena arouse a primal fear that the sun is being extinguished in the middle of the day, he said.As Annie Dillard explained in herbei 1982 essay on seeing a total solar eclipse, the event is so mind-blowing, it can inspire screams.People on all the hillsides, including, I think, myself, screamed when the black body of the moon detached from the sky and rolled over the sun, she wrote. This was the universe about which we have read so much and never before felt the universe as a clockwork of loose spheres flung at stupefying, unauthorized speeds.But whats the value for those not in the path of totality? Admittedly, watching a partial eclipse is not exciting at all, Pasachoff said. But it is interesting a little bit to look through a filter and see that theres a bite out of the sun and that it changes very slowly over a couple of hours.But really if you can, go see a total solar eclipse over a partial one, he said.Its like putting your family in a car and going 70 percent of the way to Disney World. Its just disappointing that you havent gone all the way and youve missed the main event, Pasachoff said about seeing a partial eclipse. Youre not inside the theme park unless youre in totality.It will be a very long time until the next oneIf youre in the path of totality, this eclipse will last no longer than about two minutes, 40 seconds. It shouldnt be that hard of a sell to take a break thats shorter than your average lunch break.But if you miss the 2017 total solar ec lipse, youll have to wait until 2024 to see it again in the U.S.If youre in a place of totality on Monday, realize that youre very lucky. It takes 375 years for a total solar eclipse to occur again in the same spot on average.It could be a community-building event for the officeIf the science of an eclipse is somehow uninteresting, take a look at the business incentives to take part in one.Manyhave said that they feel like theres no time in our workday for breaks or vacations. But taking a break away from our desks is good for our body and mind. Research has found that frequent breaks are key to being successful in the office.And if you think you cant mix work and play? Think again. One study found that people who did an enjoyable activity right before working reported just as much enjoyment as the group who had fun after work.Eclipses are a special event that can inspire awe and cheer just by having people looking up. This is a low-cost, big-win scenario.The amount of good will you ll get from letting your employees see this event for 20 minutes will strengthen your bond with them and improve your bottom-line, Pasachoff said.Do you want to be remembered as the boss who stopped your employees from seeing a breathtaking site of nature that may only be seen once in their lifetime? Think wisely.

How to stop email procrastination and achieve Inbox Zero

How to stop emaille procrastination and achieve Inbox ZeroHow to stop email procrastination and achieve Inbox ZeroWhen I tell people the number of emails I have waiting unanswered in my inbox, I sometimes get reactions of consternation and horror. At one point, the number reached four digits. When the number tips high, I do sprees of deleting emails, but its still easy for me to let emails build up into an anxiety-producing pile of requests, pitches, promotions, and sales.I am bedrngnis alone in this email pileup. One recent survey found that the average U.S. employee has 199 unread emails. For us to be better emailers, we need to be better at combating the inertia we feel in responding to emails that do not require an immediate response.Heres how experts suggest tackling email overload in our inboxes.Respond right away - and delegate the restOne study suggests making responding to emails a daily habit. For employees in a workplace where email is critical, actively engaging with our email across the working day was found to reduce employees stressful sense of overload, according to the study.The research recommended responding within an hour of an email being sent. For emails that require more thought, try creating a deadline for yourself, so that you can stop yourself from putting emails in inbox purgatory.Delete freelySometimes, my emails are subscriptions to promotions and events I do not remember signing up for. For productivity expert Laura Stack, deterring unwanted emails is a key factor to stopping email stress. I am a freak about unsubscribing right away. You want to cut back on the things that come into the inbox in the first place. Theres so much volume. Prevention is key, she said.Try answering emails like a CEOAnswering emails like a boss means that you dont let requests sit in your inbox unanswered because youre not socially anxious about coming off as rude. You firmly write Thanks, but Im passing to requests you are rejecting as soon as people as k them. Emulating the two-word response style of CEOs like Mark Cuban, BuzzFeed nachrichtensendung reporterKatie Notopoulos found that responding immediately to her emails created an efficiency high.As I fired off a bunch of not-super-important emails, something strange happened. I feltextremely good. I was high on the fumes of efficiency. No longer did a little cloud hang over me, the nagging feeling you get when you know youre supposed to do something and cant remember what, she wrote about her quest for inbox zero.To practice boss email style, Notopoulos suggests emailing your short responses from your phone, so that you can stop yourself from using the excuse of replying once you have a computer.Understand that timely is better than perfectIf you are a perfectionist who delays email responses because you worry about saying the right thing in emails, Ask a Managers Alison Green suggests reframing your idea of what perfect email writing can mean.In fruchtwein cases, people like ti mely responses more than they like perfect responses written several weeks too late, Green advised one self-identified perfectionist email procrastinator. Effectively immediately, take perfect off the table as a goal or at least redefine it.For you, perfect is I respond within two days, regardless of how flawless the content is.In your case, flawless ends up meaning never happens, so it cant be in the equation.By being upfront about your commitments and current bandwidth, you communicate to the recipient that you are still a reliable colleague - even if your email response may disappoint them.The bottom lineThis upfront email style is a trait that many inbox zero achievers share They recognize that to stop emails from overwhelming you, you need to make answering your inbox a part of your daily routine.